Official warns against Internet medication

A coroner in England has warned against buying medications over the Internet after a policewoman died of an accidental overdose of drugs she got online.

Lynne Manklow, a 44-year-old woman with multiple sclerosis, was found dead at her home in Cheltenham after taking the muscle relaxer Orphenadrine, which she bought from a Web site, The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday.

The medication can lift the mood of people who suffer from the neurological condition, the newspaper said.

Gloucestershire coroner Alan Crickmore said the medication should not be available on the Internet.

I think this is probably a more dangerous drug for effective social use than people perhaps realize, he said.That is one of the reasons why, in my view, drugs like this should not be available over the Internet to people who do not have proper understanding of the effects.

Speaking at an inquest following the woman’s June death, Crickmore said there was no evidence to suggest the woman deliberately took an overdose.

But there is evidence that here was a woman who might have a reason to try to lift her mood, he said.